Bulls' Rose right on target

With camp set to start Friday, his confidence level is sky high

Talking about the most analyzed knee injury in Chicago sports history is so last season for Derrick Rose.

“My only goal is to win a championship,” the Bulls guard said Sunday at the United Center.

Training camp opens with a team meeting Friday. Double practice sessions are scheduled for the weekend. And Rose, who skipped all of last season after left ACL surgery in May 2012, said no mental hurdles will remain for him when he takes the court Oct. 5 in Indianapolis for the Bulls’ exhibition opener.

“It’s just going to be an emotional day,” Rose said. “Just playing again and being around my teammates and being in the atmosphere of an arena, playing in front of people. I haven’t had that in a long time.”

Not since April 28, 2012, to be exact. And though people who have witnessed his offseason workouts insist his shooting range has increased and new wrinkles, including a left-handed floater, will be unveiled, Rose said he will be a better player for a different reason.

“The only thing that has changed in my game is the confidence,” he said. “My confidence grew as a player. You’ll see that when I play.”

Rose said he has no doubt he will regain the talent level that allowed him to become the youngest most valuable player in NBA history in 2011.

“I believe I’m one of the hardest workers in the NBA,” he said.

After traveling through Europe and Asia for promotional work, Rose threw a party for youth groups to launch his latest shoe and apparel line. Adidas worked with Bulls officials to bus community groups including Mercy Home, Boys and Girls Club of Chicago, Salvation Army and local high school students to the free event with an estimated attendance of 5,000.

Bulls public address announcer Tommy Edwards even introduced Rose with his signature call, which hasn’t been heard since Rose went down in Game 1 of the Bulls-76ers first-round playoff series in 2012.

“From Chicago ...“ Edwards said.

Rose, looking thicker with 10 pounds of muscle he added, laughed easily and often as he served as unofficial host. He held his son. He judged a dunk contest. He introduced rapper Big Sean.

But all the parsing of words and analyzing of body language matters little until Rose returns to the court.

“Right now, my legs are good,” he said. “I’m just trying to stay positive and keep my emotions from exploding, knowing the season is around the corner.

Rose said he isn’t worried about his knee.

“I’m past that,” he said. “I’m in training. While I was in LA the last month or so, I was working out three times a day.”

Rose wouldn’t reveal how many minutes he and the organization plan to play him in the preseason, but he said he hadn’t “heard anything” about limitations. Speaking at summer league in July, coach Tom Thibodeau said how Rose’s body reacts will determine his workload.

“We’re going to see what he can handle first,” Thibodeau said then. “We’re not anticipating big limitations on him.”